Least.
I have sat for the last couple of weeks with this word. I have played with it in my head, I have defined it, and I have fought against it.
This word, this feeling of being less than, is one that brings up a slew of negative emotions. If you have never been told you are less than another person, consider yourself lucky. If you have been told that you are less than another person, that you are a bottom feeder and undeserving, know that I see you, for I am there with you.
To be seen as the least among us is something that hits deep and hard. It is something that strikes you at your core, and you wrestle with everything you’ve got to crawl your way back to a place of stability. To be seen as less than another person means that someone who does not know you has decided that your life is not worthy of being recognized.
I don’t have the words to make what others say less true. I don’t have the energy to make the ones in power understand the value that one’s life has. The value that the immigrant, the disabled, the transgender, the queer, and all the others, including you, have at their core.
Even though I don’t have the words, we have a God who sees us and calls us beloved.
Even though I don’t have the energy, we have a God who flips the script and sends us an innocent baby boy, born in a stable to the Virgin Mary, to prove to us that our lives have value.
Being called less than, being told that your life is not worthy of being lived or recognized, does a number on one’s sense of self. And this Advent season, as we journey to the miracle that is Christmas, it’s hard to recognize anything but the pain that is present in the here and now. I know I have dwelled in the sense of being seen as less than another person more than I would like, but sometimes that is the place we are called to.
Through the pain, I have seen the joy of being named and claimed as beloved. Through the hurt, I have seen the resilience of those who have been knocked down more times than people think is possible. Through the wandering, I have seen love heal the broken, feed the hungry, clothe the naked.
God didn’t send us Jesus so we could put each other down. God didn’t send us Jesus so we could decide whose life is worthy, who is the least among us. God sent us Jesus so we could see each other the way that God sees us, as beloved children who are deserving of everything that we need to have an abundant life.
As you journey this Advent season, think of those that society has deemed the least among us. John prepared the way for Jesus to journey with us, to be among the least of us, to feed, to clothe, to heal, and to love. Where are those people this holiday season? Meet them where they are and show them, through your actions and your words, what value their life has.
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This week's Advent Reflection is written by Pastor Mack Patrick, Assistant to the Bishop in the Northern Illinois Synod.
